This invention relates in general to railroad track work, and more particularly to a guard rail assembly for supporting a guard rail with its tread surface above and adjacent the tread surface of the traffic rail.
Guard rails are conventionally used, at places such as switches, frogs and curves where there may be some possibility of derailments, to hold the wheel-flanges of railroad vehicles against the traffic rail. Heretofore, guard rail assemblies have been produced which support the guard rail either level with or above the traffic rail. It has been found that in a guard rail which is higher than the traffic rail, hereinafter referred to as a high guard rail, extreme lateral forces are developed. Prior attempts to support high guard rails have not been completely satisfactory because stressing of the guard rails under such conditions has not always been effectively eliminated. A common arrangement for supporting a high guard rail involves a support against the outer face of the guard rail web or underside of the guard rail head and means bearing against the top surface of the inner base-flange of the guard rail. Since the lateral forces induced by the wheel flanges of a railroad vehicle act against the inner face of the guard rail head, and no opposing force acts against the outer face of the guard rail head, the force creates a moment in the guard rail which tends to stress and displace it.